1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an image reading apparatus configured to generate an electronic file from document images read by an image reader such as a scanner, and an image forming apparatus configured to print the document images based on the electronic file generated by the image reading apparatus on media such as print sheets.
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of MFP's (Multi-Function Printers), various methods for digitizing and printing document images have been proposed recently.
Such digitized images of the original document are integrated into an electronic file. Such electronic files contain large volumes of data. Reducing such large volumes of data volume in these electronic files is desired.
Conventional image reading apparatus scan the front and back sides of original document sheets, which includes one-side printed sheets and double-side printed sheets, with a scanner having an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder), determines, based on the number of black pixels in scanned image data of each page, whether the scanned image data of the page is a blank page or a non-blank page, and outputs the scanned image data of non-blank pages to a computer without outputting the scanned images data of blank pages to the computer (For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-245074 (Paragraphs. 0023 to 0024, 0028 to 0033, and FIGS. 2 and 3)).